For the satisfaction of every readers

THE LAST STARBORN CHAPTER 1: THE SIGNAL BEYOND THE VOID The alarm began at exactly 2:17 in the morning. Not the ordinary warning sirens of Astra-9, the largest human space station ever constructed. This sound was different. It was deeper. Older. Almost alive. Red emergency lights flashed across the sleeping corridors as thousands of citizens woke in confusion. Metal doors slammed shut. Security officers rushed through the halls while automated systems repeated the same message. "UNKNOWN SIGNAL DETECTED." "ALL CREW MEMBERS REPORT TO EMERGENCY STATIONS." "DO NOT APPROACH THE EXTERIOR WINDOWS." Nineteen-year-old Aria Vale stood alone inside the observation chamber, staring into the endless darkness beyond the glass. She wasn't afraid. At least, that's what she kept telling herself. Outside the station, billions of stars filled the universe. But directly ahead of Astra-9 was something impossible. A massive black sphere floated silently in space. It had no engines. No lights. No visible structure. Yet somehow, it was moving. Slowly. Directly toward them. Aria's fingers tightened around the edge of the control panel. "That's not a ship," she whispered. Behind her, footsteps echoed. "Aria!" She turned. Kael Orion, the station's twenty-one-year-old security officer, ran into the room wearing half-fastened armor. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "Looking at the thing that's about to kill us." Kael stopped. His expression changed. "You see it too?" Before Aria could answer, another voice came through the doorway. "Everyone sees it." Lena Cross, Astra-9's twenty-two-year-old chief engineer, entered with a scanner in her hands. Behind her came Dr. Elias Venn, Mira Sol, Dante Reyes, Niko Ash, Soren Blake, Jace Orion, Professor Adrian Vale, Captain Selene Ward, Rhea Knox, Tara Wynn, Noah Flint, Cassian Roe, Lyra Chen, and Marcus Hale. Sixteen people. All staring at the same impossible object. Professor Adrian Vale looked at his daughter. "Aria," he said quietly, "step away from the window." She didn't move. "Why?" "Because I don't know what that thing is." "Neither do I." "That's exactly why." A vibration suddenly passed through the station. The floor shook. Lights exploded overhead. Someone screamed. Kael grabbed the railing as Astra-9 tilted slightly. "Impact?" Marcus shouted. "No!" Lena answered, checking her scanner. "It didn't touch us!" "Then what happened?" Lena stared at the readings. Her face became pale. "It sent something." A strange sound filled the room. Not a voice. Not music. A frequency. The screens around them suddenly turned black. Then a single symbol appeared. Aria recognized it immediately. Her breathing stopped. She had seen that symbol before. In her dreams. For years. A circle surrounded by three sharp lines. "The Starborn mark," she whispered. Everyone looked at her. Professor Vale stepped closer. "How do you know that?" "I don't." "You just said—" "I said I don't know." The symbol disappeared. Then the station's communication system activated by itself. A voice emerged from every speaker. It was distorted, ancient, and impossibly calm. "THE HEIR HAS AWAKENED." Silence followed. Then every light on Astra-9 went out. Complete darkness swallowed the station. Aria heard people shouting. "Emergency power!" "Seal the doors!" "Where's the captain?" "Everyone stay together!" Then something touched the glass. Aria froze. A hand. On the other side. Impossible. There was nothing outside except space. Yet a pale hand pressed against the observation window. Five long fingers. A human hand. Aria slowly approached it. "Don't!" Kael shouted. She stopped. The hand vanished. Then the glass began glowing. Lines of blue light spread across the window, forming a gigantic map of the galaxy. Lena stared at it. "That's not possible." "What?" Aria asked. "That map is outdated." "How outdated?" "At least four thousand years." Professor Vale's eyes widened. "No." Aria turned toward him. "You know what this is." He said nothing. "Dad." Still nothing. "Dad!" Professor Vale finally looked at her. "When your mother disappeared, she wasn't traveling to another planet." Aria's heart pounded. "Then where did she go?" "She went looking for the Starborn." The room became silent. Aria had spent most of her life believing her mother had died. She had been told there was an accident aboard a research vessel. No survivors. No evidence. Nothing. Now her father was telling her that everything she knew was a lie. Kael stepped forward. "Professor, what exactly is a Starborn?" Before Vale could answer, the station shook again. This time, much harder. Metal screamed somewhere beneath them. The emergency system announced: "HULL INTEGRITY: 73%." Captain Selene Ward immediately took control. "Everyone to the central command deck." They rushed through the corridors. As they moved, strange blue symbols appeared on the walls. Aria noticed something terrifying. The symbols appeared only after she walked past them. "What is happening?" Mira asked. "I don't know," Aria answered. Niko looked at her. "Maybe it's reacting to you." Aria stopped. "What?" Before Niko could answer, Kael stepped between them. "Don't start." Niko raised an eyebrow. "I'm only saying what everyone is thinking." Kael glared at him. "Then think quietly." Jace laughed nervously. "Seriously? We're possibly about to die and you two are arguing?" "He's been waiting for an excuse," Dante muttered. "An excuse for what?" Rhea asked. Dante glanced at Aria. "Nothing." Aria noticed. She always noticed. For reasons she never understood, people behaved differently around her. Kael had been protective of her since they were younger. Niko constantly challenged anyone who got too close. Jace tried to make her laugh whenever she was nervous. Dante admired her intelligence. Soren rarely spoke to her but always watched her from a distance. Even Cassian, who claimed he cared about nothing except science, seemed unusually interested whenever Aria entered the room. It had become complicated. Too many feelings. Too many unspoken words. But Aria had never had time to think about any of them. Now she had a much bigger problem. They reached the command deck. Captain Selene activated the main holographic display. The black sphere had stopped moving. It was now directly in front of Astra-9. Then something appeared around it. Thousands of smaller objects. Ships. An entire fleet. Everyone stared. "How many?" Marcus asked. Lena scanned the display. "At least three thousand." Captain Selene's expression hardened. "Can we fight them?" Lena shook her head. "Those aren't ships." "Then what are they?" "They're gates." The room fell silent. Suddenly, every gate opened. Something emerged. Black spacecraft covered in glowing blue lines. They surrounded Astra-9. Kael drew his weapon. "Battle stations!" Sirens screamed. Across the station, defensive cannons activated. Astra-9 began firing. The first wave of energy weapons crossed the darkness. But the mysterious ships didn't move. The attacks simply disappeared before reaching them. "What happened?" Jace shouted. "They absorbed it!" Lena replied. Another symbol appeared on the main display. The same Starborn symbol. Then the mysterious voice returned. This time, it spoke clearly. "ARIELA VALE." Aria froze. Everyone looked at her. The voice continued. "YOU HAVE BEEN HIDING FROM US FOR NINETEEN YEARS." Aria's heart pounded. Professor Vale whispered her name. "Aria..." She looked at him. "You knew." "I was trying to protect you." "From what?" The entire command deck suddenly shook. A crack appeared across the main window. Alarms screamed. The voice spoke one final time. "OPEN THE GATE." A blue light exploded from Aria's chest. She screamed. Kael grabbed her before she fell. Everyone backed away. Aria's body lifted several inches from the floor. Blue energy surrounded her. Her eyes glowed like distant stars. Professor Vale stared in horror. "No..." Captain Selene looked at him. "What is she?" Vale's voice trembled. "The last Starborn." The energy suddenly disappeared. Aria fell into Kael's arms. For several seconds, nobody moved. Then Aria opened her eyes. She wasn't unconscious anymore. She was staring directly at the black sphere. And she could hear something that nobody else could. A heartbeat. Slow. Massive. Coming from somewhere beyond the stars. BOOM. Everyone froze. BOOM. The station lights flickered. BOOM. The black sphere began opening. Inside it was not darkness. It was a galaxy. A galaxy filled with countless burning stars. And at the center stood a gigantic structure shaped like a throne. Aria whispered: "They're waiting for me." Kael looked at her. "Who?" Aria's eyes filled with fear. "I don't know." Then another voice spoke from behind them. Everyone turned. Professor Vale was holding an ancient device. His hands were shaking. "There is one thing I never told you, Aria." "What?" He looked toward the opening sphere. "Your mother wasn't the first Starborn." Aria stared at him. "Then who was?" Her father slowly lowered the device. "Your mother was searching for the first one." The lights went out again. And somewhere inside the impossible galaxy beyond the gate... Something opened its eyes. TO BE CONTINUED...